New Spider-Man Game Announcement at WonderCon [Updated]

Last year, at the 2010 WonderCon, Beenox and publisher Activision gave players a sneak peek at their upcoming wall-crawler title, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. The game would post a strong performance, both critically (read our review) as well as commercially, and by fall (at New York Comic Con) it was mentioned that Beenox would be in charge of Spider-Man titles for the foreseeable future.

Who would have guessed the foreseeable future meant they’d be ready to announce a new web-head title in 2011?

According to the WonderCon panel schedule, Activision is preparing to unveil the next Beenox-helmed Spider-Man installment at the event (which will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco April 1-3).

The “Activision Spider-Man” panel is slated for 4:30-5:30pm on Saturday, April 2nd in Room 103. Check out the full details below:

4:30-5:30 Activision Spider-Man– Marvel, Activision, and acclaimed developer Beenox are headed to WonderCon with all-new Spider-Man videogame content! First, take a tour with Beenox down memory lane of the award-winning Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, and discuss their post-launch reactions and what key learnings from the fans they are applying to future games. Next, be the first to check out exclusive details, screenshots and videos of the next Spider-Man game, with game development talent from Beenox, acclaimed Marvel writer Peter David (co-creator of Spider-Man 2099), voiceover talent Josh Keaton (voice of Spider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions) and Marvel’s VP of games production, TQ Jefferson. Room 103

As many fans will remember Josh Keaton was the voice of the “Ultimate Dimension” Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions (not to mention Spider-Man in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds). That said, the casting doesn’t necessarily mean that the voice-actor will be reprising the role for a Dimensions spin-off game – or that the new title will even feature the “Ultimate” character.

However, we previously covered mention of a possible 2011 release for the new Spidey title – in which case, given the short launch window (relative to Shattered Dimensions), it’s likely that the game will utilize a lot of the same assets and possibly a similar art-style while keeping the focus on a single Spider-Man. Though, it could be a risky move, since tightening the gameplay options down to one web-slinger would definitely alienate gamers who preferred one of the other three variations.

With The Amazing Spider-Man film reboot in production, and scheduled for a July 3, 2012, it’s certainly possible that the game may simply be a movie tie-in, such as High Moon Studios’ upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon prequel game, with Josh Keaton voicing the titular character instead of film-actor Andrew Garfield. However, it was hard to hear that High Moon Studios was going to follow-up the success of their critically acclaimed Transformers: War for Cybertron game with a movie tie-in title – and it’s equally difficult to imagine that fans wouldn’t feel as though Beenox was taking a similar step backwards if they followed-up Shattered Dimensions with a film tie-in.

That said, the Spider-Man 2 movie tie-in is one of the most celebrated Spider-titles in the character’s twenty years of game adaptations. Unlike a lot of other comic book characters, Spider-Man’s web-slinging powers have typically offered fun gameplay experiences – even when presented within a lackluster open world environment or uninspired narrative. Hopefully, should the upcoming title be an Amazing Spider-Man film tie-in, Beenox will have the freedom to craft their own gameplay set-pieces (with iconic villains) – instead of being limited to the constricting story beats of the film’s storyline.